COVID-19 Vaccine Update as of 02/02/2021
Hello and Happy February,

Thank you for your interest in getting the COVID-19 vaccine. You are receiving this email because you signed up for updates and are on the Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services interest list. There is a lot of information in this message so we ask that you carefully read it in its entirety before reaching out with any questions. 

If you do have any questions or concerns after reading this entire message, please email CovidVaccine@CoMo.gov in a new email — please do not respond to this email. Starting a new email and including your name in the subject line will make it easier for us to identify and respond to your inquiry.

If you have already received your first dose of the vaccine, or if you have already scheduled your appointment, please unsubscribe by clicking the “unsubscribe” button located at the bottom of this email.

We do not have any vaccine for first doses available at this time. All appointments for the remainder of the week have been booked. We expect to get vaccine next week and will move to Phase 1B, Tier 2 at that time. We will notify you when we are able to move into Phase 1B, Tier 2. We greatly appreciate your eagerness to get a vaccine but we kindly ask that you do not call or email our department regarding COVID-19 vaccine appointments. When supply is available we will reach out to you directly with information on how to schedule a vaccine appointment. 
How to stay updated about opportunities to make an appointment

There are many vaccinators in the state of Missouri, and each of them separately receives COVID-19 vaccines directly from the state. Although there are several local vaccinators, Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services does not have any control over how these vaccines are distributed. Though we do our best to notify you of any mass vaccination events, the best way to stay up to date is to register with each of these entities. You can find a full list of vaccinators in Missouri at: https://covidvaccine.mo.gov/map/.

If you are receiving this email, there is no need to fill out our survey again. Now that you are on our interest list, we will work diligently to get you vaccinated as soon as we have the vaccine supply to do so. Thank you for your patience. Our goal is to keep your wait as short as possible.
University of Missouri Healthcare System to vaccinate 4,000 people this week

University of Missouri Health Care was selected by the state as a high throughput vaccinator. This means that they will receive the most vaccine for any vaccinator in our region. If you have not done so already, be sure to register with MU Health Care at: https://www.muhealth.org/form/covid-vaccine-survey.

If you have already signed up with MU Health Care you may receive an email or phone call from them about scheduling a vaccination appointment. Appointment invites will be sent to those who filled out the survey and self-identified as meeting eligibility criteria for Phase 1B Tier 2. Please reach out to MU Health Care with any questions regarding these appointments by calling their COVID-19 vaccine call center at 573-771-CARE (2273). The call center is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. 
How vaccines are distributed in Missouri

On Feb. 1, the Department of Health and Senior Services announced new details regarding COVID-19 vaccine distribution in Missouri. Missouri receives approximately 76,000 doses of every week from the federal government. The state then decides where to allocate these doses among Missouri’s enrolled COVID-19 vaccinators. 

The state is committing about 53 percent of weekly allocations to selected hospitals, and approximately 23 percent will be devoted to regional mass vaccination events in partnership with local vaccine implementation teams and the Missouri National Guard. Eight percent will be allocated to local public health agencies, and another 8 percent will be received by federally qualified health centers. The remaining eight percent will go to any other enrolled providers, or “community providers,” requesting vaccine.
There are more than 2 million Missourians currently eligible for the vaccine according to Missouri’s priority phases. This means that while you may currently be eligible to receive the vaccine, it could take a while before adequate supply is available to vaccinate everyone in these priority groups who want a vaccine.

The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services is responsible for vaccination events that are hosted by the Missouri National Guard. If there is a clinic that occurs within our region, we will share that information with you via email and on social media. For reference, Boone County is located in Region F. The state has put together a landing page with more information about these mass vaccination clinics. This information will be updated regularly and can be found at https://covidvaccine.mo.gov/events/. 

The State of Missouri also launched a COVID-19 vaccine dashboard, which can be found at: https://covidvaccine.mo.gov/data/. On it you will find information on how many Missouri residents have been vaccinated, a breakdown by county, as well as other demographic data. 

Again, we greatly appreciate your patience during this time. Please remember to practice all COVID-19 safety protocols to continue to keep yourself and our community safe.
Sincerely,
Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services
Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services | Website